Center for American Progress Center for American Progress

Why Hillary Clinton Got It Right on China

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent comments about human rights in China have dismayed many human rights activists. Might they be overreacting?

"Successive [U.S.] administrations and Chinese governments have been poised back and forth on these issues, and we have to continue to press them. But our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis" the secretary told reporters. On what grounds could a responsible observer -- even one devoted to human rights, like myself -- disagree with those observations?

Read more here.

This article was originally published in Foreign Policy.

To speak with our experts on this topic, please contact:

Print: Suzi Emmerling (foreign policy and security, energy, education, immigration)
202.481.8224 or semmerling@americanprogress.org

Print: Jason Rahlan (health care, economy, civil rights, poverty)
202.481.8132 or jrahlan@americanprogress.org

Radio: John Neurohr
202.481.8182 or jneurohr@americanprogress.org

TV: Andrea Purse
202.741.6250 or apurse@americanprogress.org

Web: Erin Lindsay
202.741.6397 or elindsay@americanprogress.org

Subscribe to RSS Feeds

RSS IconSite-Wide and Issue-Specific RSS Feeds

Related Articles

Stop Already with the China Hysteria, by Nina Hachigian

Testing Time for U.S.-China Relations, by Winny Chen

The False Promise of Primacy, by Nina Hachigian

How 'Mature' Is the U.S.-China Relationship?, by Winny Chen

A Codependent Relationship, by Sabina Dewan

Also by William F. Schulz

The Triumph of Human Rights Norms, December 10, 2009

New Tools for Old Traumas, October 20, 2009

The Power of Justice, June 17, 2009